Audio conferencing solutions facilitate communication between more than two users located at remote locations using an audio conferencing endpoint (AC endpoint) such as a speakerphone. At each location, the AC endpoint may be connected to terminal equipment (e.g., a mobile phone, a landline handset, a speaker, a microphone, etc.) via any of the physical interfaces, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), an IEEE 1394 bus, optical fiber, etc. to provide or extend conferencing capabilities.
In order to wirelessly connect with the terminal equipment, state-of-the-art AC endpoints are made compatible with various wireless communication technologies, for example, IEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.11a, Bluetooth, HomeRF, ZigBee, etc. implemented on the terminal equipment. This increases the manufacturing as well as maintenance cost of the AC endpoint due to a continual requirement for hardware and/or software upgrade to remain compatible with the wireless communication technology implemented on the terminal equipment.
Therefore, there exists a need for an alternative system that enables local connection between the terminal equipment and the AC endpoint while the AC endpoint being independent of the wireless communication technology implemented on the terminal equipment.